Author: Mark Rogers

It was about a week or so after Christmas that I began to see a transformation take place on the candy aisle of our local Walmart. Just a few days prior, the aisle was chocked full of Christmas goodies. You could find Hershey’s Kisses dressed in the colors of the season. Many of our favorite candies could be found in various seasonal shapes such as Christmas trees and bells instead of their regular, boring rectangular and circular shapes. However, after Christmas, all of this was now beginning to change. Now our favorite candies could be found in the shape of hearts. Small and large, beautiful heart shaped red boxes, with bows in some cases, began lining the shelves.

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions? For some of you it may be to lose some weight. For others it may be to get serious about an exercise program. For others it could be to learn something new that you’ve been putting off for way too long. And how about the wonderful goal to reduce or get out of debt? And the list goes on and on. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is not in making them. That’s easy enough. The hard part is in keeping them. Since it is so difficult to keep our resolutions, we should choose them wisely, and then pray asking God to give us the strength to fulfill them.

As the Christmas season draws near, we look forward to giving. Some of you, no doubt, have already completed some, if not all, of your Christmas shopping. It seems as though stores begin promotions and sales for the holiday season earlier and earlier every year! Children wait impatiently for the early morning hours of Dec 25th, when they will rush with excitement out of their bedrooms to the Christmas tree to see what Santa Claus has given to them. Christmas is all about giving. Although Christmas can at times become too focused on material things, at its heart we must admit that the spirit behind Christmas giving is actually the Spirit of Christ. What spirit then should characterize our giving this Christmas?

We look forward each year to Thanksgiving. It is a time when we enjoy great food, family, friends, and possibly a little football! This raises the question though, should Thanksgiving be isolated to one day of the year? For the Christian, the answer is no! We as Christians are called to be people of thanksgiving 365 days a year. We are instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. Why are we to give thanks in all circumstances?

Some of you may be gardeners. If so, you have seen the laws of sowing and reaping in action. When you sow a seed or set out a young plant, you expect in time to receive back a harvest. Surely this will take some time, some hard work on your part, and cooperation of the weather. Nonetheless, you don’t sow expecting NOTHING, you sow expecting SOMETHING.

Join Us

Thank you for visiting!

It is our desire and purpose to reach the hearts of people — to bring fresh hope, encouragement, and joy through biblical preaching and teaching. Our prayer is that the ministries of Oriental First Baptist Church will meet a need in your life. We would love to have you and your family join us for worship.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.